The following guest post is written by Vincent M.
Smith –PhD from Silent Springs.
A few years back sociologist Thomas Lyson coined the phrase "civic
agriculture." In Lyson's mind, civic agriculture is everything that
industrial agriculture is not. In civic agriculture communities and
individuals are directly connected to the food they purchase. In civic
agriculture, farmers respond not to the whims of market and trade politics but
to the needs and desires of the communities they serve.
What Lyson was really doing in his work was re-defining the way we think
about doing business. Rather than doing business with an anonymous world
market, we do business with people we know and trust. You and I have
heard this response to global marketing before. We hear it every time we
wander down to our farmers market or attend an event sponsored by our local
chamber of commerce or business guild.
Civic business requires community-oriented producers and retailers, but it
also requires community-oriented consumers. Community-oriented
consumption is not new. Hopefully we buy from our local farmers, perhaps
we support locally owned businesses, maybe we even try to source locally manufactured
products...but what do you do when the products you are looking for aren't
available locally? These days, if you are like me, you turn to the
internet.
Trends in internet shopping suggest that when it comes to an internet
purchase our social and environmental responsibility is temporarily placed on
hold. We use price comparison websites (essentially available only to the
largest corporations on the internet) to buy exclusively on price. Now I
like a good bargain just as much as you, but when we shop exclusively on price
on the internet, we end up purchasing from a company that has managed to set up
shop in a developing nation where labor and resources can both be easily
exploited. We may also end up shopping on a website owned by a corporation with
thousands of websites. These websites all have different domain names,
they each have a unique color scheme, but they are essentially just large
departments in one enormous department store (with a U.S. address actually
based overseas).
Shopping on the internet does not mean you need to leave your interest in
creating a better world at the door. There are now a growing number of
e-stores on the internet that permit you to develop relationships with the
people behind the store and the artisans behind your products.
Silent Springs (www.silentsprings.com) is designed explicitly for the
thoughtful consumer who wants a great deal, but also wants to know that her or
his purchase supports a responsible business. At Silent Springs you can
not only meet the family behind the retail and
website, but you can meet the artisans that manufacture the
products, you can learn about how the products are made, and you can shop
without needing to abandon your goodness.
Silent Springs partners only with artisans with a proven commitment to social
and environmental responsibility. Thus, when you search for a great deal on a new skirt, you will
first know that the artisans you will be able to choose from have all
demonstrated an eagerness to do what is right in the world.
Please don't fall into the trap of industrial internet consumption.
Get to know the people behind the stores and blogs you support. If you
rely exclusively on typing in a keyword, scanning the results, and selecting
what appears to be the best price, you'll support only the companies with the
largest advertising budgets, those with the largest number of poorly paid employees,
those selling products with the lowest quality, and those willing to
exploit resources and laws to compete on price. Find websites you can
trust and support them!
Vincent M. Smith - PhD
Vincent M. Smith –PhD is the author of The Organic Times Blog and co-owner of Silent Springs. Vincent is also an assistant professor of environmental studies and sociology at Southern Oregon University where he teaches and conducts research on coupled human-environment systems.
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